As the Northern Ireland Assembly meets for the first time in the old Stormont parliament in Belfast today, the Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, has said local political leaders must not let narrow sectional interests outweigh their responsibilities to the wider community.
The 108 members will take their seats in the refurbished debating chamber in Parliament Buildings at 10.30 a.m. After prayers and a moment of reflection, the first item on the agenda is expected to be the Omagh bombing.
The First Minister, Mr David Trimble, and Mr Mallon will then report back to the Assembly on the progress of the other institutions, including cross-Border bodies, which must be set up in line with the Belfast Agreement.
Speaking at the British-Irish Association meeting in Oxford at the weekend, Mr Mallon said: "Since direct rule, all of us have denounced and derided the efforts of successive secretaries and under-secretaries of state. Usually, but not always, we were right. Now it is our turn. We have to do better.
"We have to move from criticism to construction, from making demands to making choices, from claiming rights to taking responsibilities. I believe we can succeed.
"When I look at most of the parties elected to the Assembly, I see strengths and capability. I see real concern and understanding of the social and economic problems in our constituencies and a drive to do something about it."
Mr Mallon said the public wanted no "going back" on the agreement. "All of its elements must be implemented in full," he said. "And the new Northern Ireland ministers must govern as a single coherent, consistent body.
"There will be one executive committee, not six or 10 individual free-floating ministers. There will be one budget: policies must be coherent and integrated. If we fail to achieve this we will have failed the people who have elected us. We will have failed to improve upon direct rule."
Mr Mallon acknowledged that the North's political leaders had a responsibility to represent their electors. "But these responsibilities have to be balanced by the needs of the wider process," he added. "There is a greater good - and a wider responsibility - which transcends our own sectional interests."
The Rev Ian Paisley has insisted his party will take seats in the new executive, but will not attend cabinet meetings with Sinn Fein.
On BBC Radio Ulster's Inside Politics, the DUP leader ein but we are eager to bring things to the crunch," he said. When was asked if he was daring the other parties, especially the Ulster Unionists, to move to have the DUP expelled. He replied: "Yes."
Meanwhile, Ulster Unionist MP Mr Ken Maginnis will take part in a face-to-face debate with Sinn Fein MP Mr Martin McGuinness on BBC's Newsnight tonight. The main subject will be decommissioning. UUP sources said that while Mr Maginnis would not be reticent about making his points, his tone would be "more constructive than aggressive".
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said last night that the North's political leaders must all dedicate themselves to the challenges that lay ahead. "The Good Friday Agreement, and the executive and other institutions it establishes, present all of us with an opportunity to take charge of our own destiny," he said.
"Its full implementation is the next great step towards a democratic peace settlement. There must be no delays and no prevarication." Mr Adams expressed confidence that if political leaders applied themselves "boldly, with imagination and honesty", and embraced the need for fundamental change, they could "chart a course for a new future for all the people of this island".
At a Sinn Fein ardchomhairle meeting in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, on Saturday, Mr Adams announced the allocation of Assembly portfolios to a gathering of about 50 party members.
Mr Adams will head the 12-strong "front bench" team, which will include the party's vice-president, Mr Pat Doherty, who will be spokesman for cross-Border development, and the West Belfast Assembly member, Ms Bairbre de Brun, who will be spokesperson for policing and justice.